A Midwinter’s Cake

Monday, January 16, 2012

My aversion to sweet wine has probably meant that I neglect Italian desserts more than I should.  After all, this aversion to sweetness may conflict with Vin Santo, but it should mean an affinity for the cakes, tarts, and pies that Italians create to accompany those wines.  The affinity explains why I chose to make this bustrengo; the aversion why I neglected it in the past.

In Jamie’s Italy, from which this recipe was adapted, Jamie Oliver compares this to a French clafoutis.  The resemblance is undeniable, but I prefer the grit and heft (not to mention taste) of the polenta to the flour-only clafoutis.  Naturally, I’ve made some changes to the recipe in order to use local ingredients.  The dried figs were from my freezer, dehydrated and packed away last August.  The cranberries and maple sugar were from the Fair Food Farmstand.  The breadcrumbs were leftover bits from my own bread, and although widely available in local form, I chose white spelt flour over white all-purpose flour simply because that’s what I had.  Likewise, rather than use whole milk and the zest of oranges and lemons, I used buttermilk because, again, this was what I had, but I also realized the acidity of the buttermilk made the zest superfluous (i.e., less work).  Having previously made the bustrengo with zest, I can honestly say I didn’t notice the difference. 

If this seems like a lot of work or ingredients, keep in mind that most of the preparation can be done while the oven pre-heats - especially if you’ve prepared the breadcrumbs in advance.  In fact, you’re likely to spend more time waiting for it to cook than you are making it. 

Serve as breakfast on a midwinter morning alongside a steaming cappucino.

Winter Carrots to the Rescue

Sunday, January 08, 2012

Now is about the time I start thinking about spring—and it’s not just the batallion of seed catalogs popping up in the mail. I start to get tired of potatoes and other root vegetables, all the stuff that I canned or froze the past summer. I want something to eat with bright colors and flavors.

That’s when I break out my favorite carrot soup recipe. I noted on Twitter the other day that I planned to make it, and someone tweeted me back: “How do you make soup out of just carrots?

Oh, ye of little faith. Most people forget about carrots when it comes to winter vegetables. You can often find them at winter farmer’s markets, and if you grow them at home, you can generally leave them in the ground in the fall (with a little protection during colder winters) until you need them. And it’s not like carrots are usually considered the star of the show—maybe you throw them in soup as part of a miripoix, maybe you chop them up and throw them in a meatloaf or something.

I’ve seen lots of variations of carrot soup—usually paired with ginger and pureed until smooth. I prefer soup with a little bit more body, and this recipe fits the bill for me. I tinkered with it, of course, because I just can’t leave well enough alone. Most of the ingredients can be sourced locally, and the flavor is fantastic: hearty but bright.

2.5 lbs. of carrots (trimmed, peeled, and chopped)
half of a red onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
4 Tbsp butter
1 pinch of saffron threads
1 pinch of sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
.5 cup sour cream
4 Tbsp. cilantro (chopped)

Combine in a stockpot: carrots, onions, garlic, saffront, sugar, salt, butter, and 1 cup of stock. Bring to a simmer and then cover, cooking over medium heat while stirring occasionally for fifteen minutes or until most of the stock is evaporated. The carrots should be tender.

Add 2 cups of stock and the heavy cream; bring to a simmer. Stir in 3 Tbsp. of cilantro, sour cream, and more salt to taste. Use a stick blender to puree roughly half the soup. You can also do this using a regular blender, of course. I I prefer the soup slightly chunky.

Serve with a drizzle of sour cream or yogurt, a light sprinkling of more cilantro, and a few curls of carrot.

There are other ways to enjoy carrots as a main dish, of course:

carrot risotto
carrot pasta with cream and mint
carrot timbales
carrot quiche
carrot curry

Mushroom Goulash

Saturday, December 31, 2011

While we’ve been enjoying a mild winter so far, many long months still lie between us and spring. This is a great dish to combat the winter blues with, being so savory and warming, and locally grown mushrooms, onions and herbs are readily available even in this pretty bleak period for produce.  It’s also a great vegetarian (or vegan, if you leave out the sour cream and use all oil instead of a mix with butter) option for New Year’s Day or Super Bowl parties, easily scaling up to feed a crowd.

If you like it hot, you can substitute Hungarian hot paprika or ground chipotle for the Spanish smoked paprika below.

Mushroom Goulash
Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons each unsalted butter and olive oil
3 large or 6 small onions, thinly sliced
16 ounces cremini and/or white button mushrooms, sliced
1/3 ounce mixed dried mushrooms, reconstituted in one cup boiling water, then drained and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
2 cups hot vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream
Chopped parsley for garnishing

Cooked egg noodles or rice

Melt the butter into the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat.  Cook the onions, stirring regularly, until they have softened and begun to turn gold, then add the mushrooms and continue cooking until they have begun to wilt.

Sprinkle the sweet and smoked paprikas over the onions and mushrooms, and continue stirring over the heat for a minute or two.  Pour in the stock, adding a bit more if necessary to just cover the vegetables, and salting lightly.  Cover the pot, lower the heat and simmer until the onions have broken down and the mushrooms are cooked through, 30-45 more minutes.

Take the pot off the heat and stir in the sour cream and parsley.  Taste and add more salt and pepper as desired, then serve over the cooked noodles or rice.

Leftovers can be gently reheated the next day, though if you use low-fat sour cream, it may look a bit curdled, which won’t affect the taste.

Give Liver (Pate) a Chance

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Liver pate gets a bad rap. Well, let’s face it: liver in general is reviled. I recently announced that instead of Christmas cookies this year, I made pate. It was universally met with a disgusted “ew!” It’s a shame. There’s nothing better than a good liver pate on water crackers. It’s smooth and delicious. It’s also ridiculously easy to make, and you can prepare it using almost entirely local ingredients.

Let’s start with the livers. You need about a pound of chicken livers, and you can get those from any local producers of chickens. Mine came from Friendly Farms. Sure, they look a little disgusting, but get over it. Oh, and soak them in milk for two hours. People say this is how you get the disgusting flavor out of them…personally, I’ve had soaked and unsoaked livers, and I can’t really tell the difference. I say it’s all in how you cook them.

But let’s assume you’ve soaked your livers in milk and you’re ready to get moving. What else do you need?

1 cup yellow onion, diced
2 Tbsp. garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper
1/4 cup of bourbon
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp butter, cold and chopped into pieces.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onions for about 3 minutes; add garlic, and saute for 30 seconds. Toss in the chicken livers, bay, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook all this down for about five minutes—basically you want the liver to still be slightly pink inside. Add the bourbon and cook until the liquid is mostly evaporated.

Let the mixture cool, remove and discard the bay leaf, and then toss everything (but the bay leaf) into your blender or food processor, along with the cold butter. Blend it up until it looks like something you so don’t want to eat and adjust the seasonings to your taste. Pour into ramekins and refrigerate for at least six hours.

If you’re taking them to a party, you can seal the pate with clarified butter to keep it fresher.

How to Use Quinces

Saturday, December 03, 2011

If you’ve eaten at Amada, Tinto, or other tapas-oriented restaurants, the odds are good that you’ve had dulce de membrillo, the quince-based paste that’s served with cheese in Spain and pretty much all over Latin America.  Sadly, it can be both hard to find in the U.S. and ridiculously overpriced when you do, which is why I’ve been making my own any time I can find quinces in the market. Fortunately for me, Beechwood Orchards consistently brings them to the local markets late in the fall, letting me indulge my love of this fruit by buying eyebrow-raising quantities at each visit. They can also be found, albeit at higher prices, in some local groceries this time of year as well.

Quinces are so naturally high in pectin that they’re a snap for even the novice preserves-maker to handle.  All you have to do is cook them until they’re soft, puree them and add an almost equal amount of sugar, and cook them down until they turn from gold to salmon pink.  The resulting mixture sets itself into a nice firm jam at this point, or you can pour it into a shallow pan and dehydrate it in a very low oven until it firms up into a nice sliceable block that keeps forever in the fridge. 

The nice thing about this recipe is that it can be scaled up or down for as many quinces as you care to buy, and just one lazy Saturday afternoon of effort will yield you enough squares of dulce de membrillo or jars of jam for all your holiday party cheese plates, with plenty of extras for seasonal hostess gifts.

Dulce de Membrillo (Quince Paste)
Makes one 1 ½ - 2 lb block, or about eight 1-cup jars of jam

10 quinces (around 5 pounds)
Approximately 4 cups granulated sugar
Half of a large vanilla bean, split
1 lemon

Wash, peel and core the quinces, chopping roughly. Remove the peel of half the lemon in long strips with a peeler, and place with the quinces and vanilla bean in a large pot, pouring over enough water to just cover the fruit. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and lower the heat to a simmer, cooking until the fruit is tender. 

Drain the quinces, removing the vanilla bean but leaving in the lemon strips.  Puree the fruit with a food processor, food mill or immersion blender until smooth. Measure the puree in a liquid measuring cup and add 1 cup sugar for every 1 ¼ cups of fruit. Transfer the mixture into a large, heavy-bottomed pan and heat on low, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then stir in the juice of the lemon.  Increase the heat just enough to barely sustain a simmer and cook until very thick and a dark pink color, stirring frequently.  If you are getting a lot of splatter, partially cover the pan but stir even more often to prevent burning.

If putting up as jam, spoon the thickened mixture into clean, sterilized jars and seal using the boiling water method.  To set as dulce de membrillo, pour the mixture into a shallow, buttered 8 x 8 pan and bake in an oven at the lowest possible setting for 1-2 hours, or as long as it takes to solidify into a firm block, flipping it over as soon as the top is set in order to dehydrate it evenly.  Covered tightly, the dulce can be kept nearly indefinitely in the refrigerator.

How To: Cleaning Black Walnuts

Monday, November 07, 2011

My wedding anniversary came to pass a few weeks ago, and my husband, as usual, gave me a gift. No, not jewelry or flowers—a box of foraged black walnuts.

True, it’s an odd gift, but certainly not one I’ll ever turn away. My husband collected the walnuts from a tree near where he works, and they’ve been resting on our back porch ever since. What have I been waiting for? Well, the outer hulls need to soften up. You’ll know it’s time get rid of the hull when you can easily dent it with your thumbnail. Any harder, and you won’t be able to cut into the hull with any degree of success.

If you’ve never attempted to de-hull black walnuts, be forewarned: it can get messy. The flesh inside the husk can permanently dye everything in its path dark brown, so pick up a pair of protective gloves—latex is good. Some people recommend gloves that are rated to withstand solvents. It’s not a terrible idea, but not entirely necessary…as long as the gloves are strong.

Okay, so you’ve got your gloves. You also need a sharp knife, a bucket of water, a trash bag, and a bunch of newspapers over which to work. Slice into the hull with your knife, but don’t press in too hard. It’s not that you’re going to damage the walnut shell—but the shell is so hard, it’ll dull your knife. Drag your blade around the hull of the walnut until you’ve got a solid slice around the equator. Another word of warning: you may see maggots (husk fly maggots, to be exact). They’re gross, but it doesn’t mean the inner nut is bad.

Twist the two hull halves apart, drop the hull in the trash, and the nut in the water. Repeat until you’re all finished up. And yes, it’s best to toss the hulls in the trash instead of adding them to your compost heap because there are compounds in black walnut hulls that are toxic to plants. Granted, if you hunt on the internet hard enough, there are ways to use the hulls—making ink, herbal hair dye, etc.

When you’ve got a bucket full of walnuts, stir the water with a stick. I don’t just mean a leisurely stir, either—agitate the crap out of the water and nuts because you’re trying to encourage the remaining bits of hull to fall off. Drain the water (remember: walnut hulls are toxic to plants, so don’t pour the water directly onto your prized peonies—it can also kill off earthworms) and fill up the bucket with clean water. You may need to repeat the process up to four times to get clean walnut shells.

At this point, spread the walnuts out in a box or on a screen and allow them to air dry for a few hours in the sun. Having an overcast day? No worries—put the walnuts on a cookie sheet and place them in an unlit gas oven for 24 to 48 hours for drying. If you don’t have a gas oven, you can try drying them in your oven after you’ve baked something: the oven needs to be at around 100 degrees.

But you’re not done yet! Gather the dried walnuts into a mesh bag and hang on your back patio or some other ventilated indoor area for a period of 4 to 6 weeks. This is technically described as the curing period. Don’t attempt to shell them until you can shake a nut and hear the meat rattle within.

So you wait it out, and your walnuts are finally ready—this is where the hard part begins. Ever tried to crack a black walnut? It’s really tough—the process and the shell. I’ve heard of people running over black walnuts with a car to help crack the shells. I personally have attempted to de-shell them by banging the crap out of a walnut shell with a hammer. Probably the easiest way to crack black walnuts, though, is with a vise: place the nut end-to-end in the vise. Place a container under the nut. Crank the vise until the nut just cracks. Some people recommend soaking the nuts in water again for an hour or two before you undertake cracking—it allegedly cuts down on the amount of flying shell debris. When you’re finished with the cracking, turn your attention to the bowl of nuts. It’s unlikely you’ll get many whole pieces of walnut freed from the shell during this process. Yes, you can use a pick to pry the meat out, but if you would rather have whole meats you’ll need some kind of cutter to remove more of the shell. I’ve read that some people use wire cutters.

Use the nuts within the next few months—there is quite a bit of oil in the nuts, so they can go bad. If you wish to store them long term, you’ll need to freeze the nutmeats.

Yeah, it’s a lot of work. Why would anyone bother? Well, a few reasons, really. First and foremost, black walnuts taste better than regular walnuts. But also, they’re really nutritious—chock full omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for our brains.

Aside from eating them out of hand, there are some really interesting things you can do with black walnuts. I love this recipe for acorn squash lasagna with black walnut cream—you can make it almost entirely out of locally grown ingredients. Other options: banana-black walnut cake with caramel frosting, black walnut ice cream, black walnut shortbread cookies, black walnut pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread, black walnut brittle, pork tenderloin with black walnut mole sauce, pickled walnuts, shiitake and black walnut tartare, and black walnut stuffing with figs and bacon.

Delicata Squash and Apple Bisque

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Appropriately enough for the October apple challenge, my Thanksgiving stuffing recipe features apples, along with a lot of onions and celery, walnuts or pecans, and fresh sage and thyme.  Since it’s not quite time for stuffing yet, I turned that basic inspiration into a smooth, warming soup that also made great use out of the handful of Delicata squash that came out of my garden before all the rain softened up the rest.

There are three apple elements in this soup: a large tart apple, cider mixed into the stock, and a shot of Calvados at the end. If you can’t find Delicata squash in the markets, this soup can be made just as well with any other winter squash, although I think butternut or Kabocha would give the best results. If you prefer to leave out the alcohol, the soup can be finished with a drizzle of cider vinegar instead.

Delicata Squash and Apple Bisque
Serves 6-8

4 small Delicata squash, cut in half and seeded
3 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large or 2 small Honeycrisp, Fuji, or other tart-crisp apple, peeled and diced
2 sprigs fresh sage, leaves julienned
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped off the stems
3 cups vegetable stock
1 ½ cups apple cider
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Calvados, applejack, or brandy

Preheat oven to 400 F. Rub the cut surfaces of the squash with 2 tablespoons of the oil and set rind-up on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Roast squash until tender all the way through and yielding to the point of a sharp knife.  Once cooked, scrape the flesh out of the squash and discard the rinds.

Heat the butter and remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat until the butter has melted. Saute the onion until wilted, then add the celery and apple and continue cooking until soft. 

Add the stock, cider, herbs and roasted squash to the pot.  Salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil.  Cover the pot, lower the heat and simmer 20 minutes, until the squash has completely broken down into the soup.

Using an immersion blender or food processor, puree the soup until smooth.  Stir in the Calvados or brandy, taste, and add more salt and pepper as necessary.

Romanesco and Cauliflower Manicotti

Saturday, October 22, 2011

A few weeks ago, as Tom Culton explained to me why his romanesco were so small (he had cut them prematurely so they didn’t have a chance to rot from all of the rain), I had a small, inward panic.  His romanesco, beautiful fractal patterns in lime green, are among my favorite arrivals for the fall.  Thankfully, Tom’s later crop have returned to their normal, bountiful size.  I am always looking for new ways to cook it, and this manicotti recipe is among my favorites.  It almost seems a shame to cook romanesco down to an unrecognizable mash, but I think the manicotti easily compensate in taste.

This is, undeniably, a main dish that just happens to be vegetarian.  It’s substantial and rich enough to satisfy people who have difficulty imagining a meal without meat.  I’ve made some revisions to Jamie Oliver’s original.  First, I make my own tomato sauce.  Second, I supplanted store-bought cannelloni tubes with buckwheat manicotti (crepes).  Third, I substituted anchovy paste for actual anchovies.  I do love anchovies, and I am one to purchase them salted and then fillet them myself when needed. But in this instance, because it should dissolve consistently in the cooked vegetables, I opt for the paste, saving the fillets instead for a my homemade version of Otto’s “Romana” pizza.  Fourth, instead of creme fraiche, I use goat yogurt from Patches of Stair Dairy.

Making your own tomato sauce and crepes, in addition to being in accord with the credo of this blog, guarantees a freshness and quality you will find difficult to equal in store-bought ingredients.  Further, the recipes included here for both the tomato sauce and the crepes make more than this recipe calls for.  Therefore, in making these manicotti, you are making key ingredients of two other meals.  For example, I used the other half of the tomato sauce for a pasta dinner and the crepes for breakfast. Additionally, by using manicotti, I’ve eliminated the need to fill cannelloni with a pastry bag.

Like many of Oliver’s dishes this represents a nice twist on something classic (in this case, anchovies and broccoli).  My favorite aspect of this dish, though, is the quick “white-sauce” of goat yogurt and Parmesan thinned with some water.  You can easily find other uses for that alone.

One last thing: thanks to my awesome neighbors for first serving me this.

Cauliflower and Broccoli Manicotti

1 lb. broccoli, washed and chopped
1 lb. romanesco cauliflower, washed and chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small bunch basil leaves, picked and washed
1 small bunch thyme, washed and leaves stripped and chopped
1 oz. anchovy paste
2 small dried chilies (or to taste)
2 cups goat yogurt
8 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, sliced
2 cups tomato sauce (see below)
1 dozen (approximately) buckwheat manicotti (see below)
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it as you would for pasta, and drop in the broccoli and cauliflower.  Blanch for 5 minutes and then strain, reserving the cooking water. 

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide, shallow saucepan (make sure the pan is wide enough to hold all of the cauliflower and broccoli) over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook for approximately 1 minute.  Add the thyme, anchovies, and chilies.  Stir together and cook for 30 seconds.  Add the cooked broccoli and cauliflower, stirring everything together.  Add ½ cup of the reserved cooking water, turn the heat to medium-low, partially cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft enough to mash.  (If the mixture is too wet, allow it to cook longer uncovered.  If the mixture is too dry, stir in more of the cooking water, one tablespoon at a time.)  Remove from the heat and mash the vegetables with a spoon.  Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, mix the goat yogurt and 4 oz. of the Parmesan to form the quick “white sauce.”  Thin with a little water if necessary.

Assemble the manicotti.  Spread the tomato sauce on the bottom of a large casserole dish or lasagna pan.  Lay one of the manicotti on a plate.  Spoon a strip of the mixture in the center, being careful not to overstuff them.  Roll up on side and then other; one side should overlap the other.  Arrange the manicotti in the pan, seam-side down, packing them tightly together but keeping them in single layer.  Spread the basil leaves over the manicotti, and then cover with the white sauce.  Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan over the top and then cover with the mozzarella.  Season the top with black pepper and a drizzle (or two) of olive oil.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and the whole thing is bubbling. 

Serve with some simply dressed greens. 

Using Up Your Habaneros

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The first threat of frost usually has pepper growers praying—or at least fervently hoping—that the bumper crop of peppers will turn red or orange soon. Whether it’s bell peppers or chile peppers, no one wants to leave food in the garden when fall turns into winter.

My husband wanted to grow habanero peppers this year, something I was confused about because he’s not a fan of spicy food. If you’ve never bitten into a habanero, they’re fairly fiery. An orange habanero ranges from 130,000 to 325,000 on the Scoville scale (the scale that measures chile heat). As a point of reference, the trinidad scorpion pepper is at the top of the scale—900,000 to 1,463,700—while a cherry pepper comes in at 0 to 500. I like spicy foods, but I must admit I’m somewhat nervous of cooking with vegetables so hot I have to wear latex gloves to avoid a capsaicin burn.

You can pick green habaneros, but they will be slightly less spicy (possibly a good thing, all things considered). You can also force green habaneros to ripen to orange by putting them in a paper bag and letting them sit for a few days—of course, it doesn’t make them any hotter.

One of the things I came up with for using habaneros is to make butter sauce, which is fantastic over roasted chicken. Yes, it’s spicy. My husband tried it and immediately ran for a glass of water.

10 orange habanero peppers, seeded and halved
1 orange bell pepper, seeded and halved
zest from one orange
4 Tbsp. of white wine
2 Tbsp. of salt
1 glove garlic, smashed
1 c. of white wine, apple cider, or champagne vinegar
2 tsp. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. butter, softened

Toss chiles, bell pepper, orange zest, 2 Tbsp. wine, 1 Tbsp. of salt, and the garlic clove in a blender and puree; let it sit in the blender at room temperature for at least 4 hours but up to 12 hours. When you’re ready to continue add vinegar and remaining wine and 1 Tbsp. of salt to the blender and puree until smooth. Place a mesh strainer over a saucepan, and transfer the contents of the blender to the saucepan. Press the solids with the back of a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible; discard the solids (add them to your compost pile). Heat the liquid in the saucepan to a simmer over medium heat. Place the cornstarch in a small bowl and mix with 2 tsp. of water to form a slurry. Pour slurry into saucepan and whisk until the mixture thickens, around 3 minutes. Whisk in butter and season with salt.

This makes a cup or two of butter sauce. Use it to spice up any dish.

Other interesting ideas for using your habanero peppers:

• Habanero brownies
• Orange Habanero Vinaigrette
• Habanero Salt Water Taffy
• Habanero Cashew Brittle
• White Chocolate Habanero Ice Cream
• Spicy Grapefruit Margarita
• Garlic Habanero Chicken Meatballs With Kale Polenta
• Cranberry Habanero Jelly
• Pickled Habanero Peppers

What’s your favorite way to use up your late-season habanero peppers?

Beet Salad!

Friday, September 30, 2011

I have a thing about beets. Well, actually it’s not so much a thing about as a thing with. You see, when first presented with a beet I always think I don’t like them. I will never go out of my way to buy beets and when I get them in my CSA share my first reaction is always a resigned oh, beets.

But then I force myself to do something with them—so I take the first step and either steam or roast them.

And then I force myself to take the next step and eat them because one must not waste food.

And then my reaction is always an elated ah, beets!

In the interest of time, the next time I get beets I should really just skip to the ah, beets! reaction.

In my last few weeks of CSA deliveries I’ve received beets and lots and lots of wonderful cilantro, garlic, and chives. I also had lounging in my fridge a block of fresh goat cheese from Sunny Side Goat Dairy and a baguette from Big Sky Bread. In a desperate act of eating all this produce and the cheese before it became un-usable I went ahead with making a beet salad. And it was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I had two platefuls of it along with some sliced baguette to mop up the juices.

I highly encourage you to try this. It will change any negative thoughts you may have about beets.

Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

6 beets—cooked, peeled, sliced and chilled
2 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch of chives, chopped
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar

Combine the vinegar, sugar, garlic, chives, and cilantro.
Pour over sliced beets.
Add some fresh goat cheese just before serving.

Just for fun, at the last second I threw on some pickled garlic scapes that were hanging out in my fridge and it was a nice way to spice things up. Totally optional, of course.

Cusp of Fall Produce

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

As much as I love the berries, stone fruit and corn of summer, I honestly think the best time for produce in this area is early fall. This time of year, you can find both the best of the late-summer fruits and vegetables and the apples, pears and pumpkins of autumn.  In my garden, I have a handful of straggling green tomatoes and peppers turning red right beside the hard squashes swelling on their vines.

This baked dish is the perfect thing to make with the fruits of this season, since it’s just a little bit heartier than I would want in the heat of August, when I’d be wanting to make a salad instead.  This is a more comforting and warming configuration for those same ingredients, much more suited to the somewhat drippy weather we’ve been having this month.  I’m especially pleased with the fact that everything is local except the wine and the feta, and a fair bit of it was even home-grown.  The twisty red frying peppers, green bell pepper, tomatoes and herbs all came from containers on my patio, while the onion and darling little pale-purple fairytale eggplant came from the Saturday Chestnut Hill farmers market.  Later this fall, it can be made instead with big Italian eggplant and good canned tomatoes, but for the next few weeks, I urge you to take full advantage of the fact that the ingredients can still be found fresh in the markets!

Fairytale Eggplant Baked with Peppers, Tomatoes and Feta
(Adapted from Diane Kochilas, The Greek Vegetarian)

¼ cup olive oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled, halved and sliced thinly
1 green bell pepper, sliced in thin rounds
2 red frying peppers, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup chopped tomatoes (approximately 4 small)
½ cup red wine
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
1 quart fairytale eggplant
4 ounces feta cheese
Salt to taste

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium low heat and add the onions, cooking until wilted.  Add the peppers, red pepper flakes and garlic, cover and cook for another 8 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and wine and bring to a simmer, cover again, and cook 10 more minutes.  Stir in the oregano leaves and salt to taste.

Trim the tops off the eggplant and cut into wedges about an inch wide.  Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat and fry the eggplant pieces until golden and beginning to turn tender.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Brush a medium-sized baking dish with 2-inch sides with oil, and layer the bottom with half the eggplant.  Cover with half the sauce mixture, and repeat with the remaining eggplant and vegetables.  Crumble the feta in an even layer on top. 

Cover loosely with foil and bake until the eggplant is fully tender and the sauce is bubbling, about 45 minutes to an hour.  Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes if you’d like the feta to brown a bit.

Tomato Pie

Saturday, September 10, 2011

As much as I loved the Food Network back in the days when we had cable, I could never really get into Paula Deen’s recipes because of all the mayonnaise. I don’t like mayonnaise. I don’t eat mayonnaise. I don’t buy mayonnaise. So when some friends started talking about a Paula Deen tomato pie recipe I didn’t think much of it. I have plenty of tomato pie recipes in my arsenal. Some eggy, some tart-like on puff pastry, some like the cheese-less pizza tomato pies popular in Philly. But people kept talking about the Paula Deen recipe and I decided to put my mayonnaise issues aside and give it a go.

Her recipe is pretty straightforward: a prepared pie shell, cheese, green onions, tomatoes, basil and mayonnaise. Keeping with my “complicate everything” philosophy I tweaked the recipe using a homemade all-butter pie crust, homemade mayo, both Amish Paste and grape tomatoes from my garden, and caramelized red onions from Red Earth Farm along with the other ingredients. It was as good as everyone said it was. I just ate the crumbs off of the bottom of the pie pan taking a picture.

Tomato Pie

One 9 inch pre-baked pie crust, store bought or homemade
3 or 4 tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped ( or cherry tomatoes halved and squeezed to drain some of the moisture)
1/2 cup of green onion, chopped (or 2 red onions caramelized)
10 basil leaves, sliced
3/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 cups of shredded cheese ( I used one cup of Hillacres Pride cheddar, and one cup of shredded mozzarella- I bet it would be great with Pecorino Romano or Parmesan too)
salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste

Combine the mayonnaise and cheeses with salt, pepper and hot sauce. It will be thick and gloopy. Layer the onions, tomatoes, and basil in the pre-baked pie crust. Spread the cheese mixture evenly across the top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until browned.

Packing Healthy School Lunches Year Round

Saturday, September 03, 2011

It’s September, and for a lot of us that means it’s back-to-school time. Pencils, erasers, notebooks, new clothes . . . it can get exhausting after a while! One of the things that you might not be thinking about is your child’s lunch box. And no, I don’t mean whether it should be Hannah Montana or Ben 10. Rather, I mean what you’re going to fill that designer tote with every day for the next several months.

Buying lunch at school every day is costly, and you won’t always know where that food is coming from. Even though schools are cracking down on nutrition for school lunches, cafeterias do not always place emphasis on locally grown produce. One way to ensure that your children are eating healthy foods grown locally is to pack their lunch yourself!

If your children are picky, as mine are, it can be tricky to find the fruits and veggies they crave year round. But getting them to eat seasonal selections doesn’t have to be a fight; it can be fun and full of adventurous eating. Here are a few tips to get your kids eating healthy options every day.

• Dip it! Kids love dipping just about everything from sweet fruits and crunchy veggies to breaded chicken or mozzarella sticks. Providing a “fingers only” lunch to your little one is a fun way to get them eating healthy options. Julienne your veggie selections and provide ranch dressing or hummus to dip with. Offer different cubed fruits and cheese with caramel dipping sauce. And, if your child likes chicken fingers, you can bread and bake enough small pieces of chicken for a week’s worth of lunches Sunday night. Cold chicken tastes just as yummy as warm and it’s easy to transport to school! Store your dips in reusable containers for easy cleaning and no-mess transportation.

• Pasta salad can be a great way to “hide” fresh veggies from picky eaters. Chop your fresh veggies teeny-tiny, almost small enough to make a slaw, and mix with whole wheat pasta, olive oil, and spices. Just a little bit of seasoning will turn a veggie salad into a new and flavorful food for your child.

• Tuna boats, anyone? Take a halved bell pepper and stuff with tuna salad. If you want to be creative, you can include a toothpick and a triangle-shaped wedge of cheese for your child to “raise the sail” on their boat. Little touches like these have kids clamoring for more!

• Is apple picking on your September agenda? Prepare in advance for the fresh fruit so that you can store and enjoy their fresh crispness for months at a time. Gather black and white newspaper pages (avoid colored print as these contain hazardous chemicals that could leech into the fruit) and quarter them. Wrap each apple individually so that when you store them, they won’t touch each other. You don’t have to exclude air from their environment; a slight twist of the newspaper at the top will do the trick. Store them in a cardboard box in a dark, cool area where the apples will not freeze. You could use an unheated basement or an enclosed porch. Taking these few extra steps will ensure that your apples stay fresh through February. Think of the happy smile when your child sees a crisp apple in the middle of winter.

These are just a few suggestions, but if you think about it, I’m certain you can come up with more inventive ideas on how to include local produce into your child’s lunch each day. Not only will it save you some much needed cash, you will be providing healthy, fun food choices for your children—which is always a bonus!

Time to Harvest: Lettuces!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Have you already harvested your first lettuce of the season? I have cut some mixed red and green lettuce, but just take a look at this beautiful head of red butter lettuce I enjoyed last weekend. A boiled egg, some sea salt, a touch of olive oil, vinegar and dijon mustard - it was perfect! Remember that one you start cutting your lettuce to keep planting every week or so, and you’ll have a steady supply through the Spring.

My first Leeks!

Monday, May 09, 2011

I planted my first leeks last summer, and low and behold, they popped up beautifully this Spring. I had to brace myself, both feet solid, to pull these suckers out, beautiful and gritty. After a hearty few washings, I used them to make the recipe for Dilled Green Beans with Seitan from “Super Natural Everyday,” pictured below. Delicious! What are you cooking with leeks?